Sackings are rare in the women's game but Leeds United, in danger of relegation as they enter the second half of their Premier League season, have parted company with the manager, Gemma Grainger, and brought back her predecessor, Rick Passmoor, until the end of this campaign.

Passmoor resigned at the end of last season as his team, following the withdrawal of the bid to join the new Super League by the club's then patron Leeds Metropolitan University, was set to lose every member of its starting line-up to clubs whose Super League bids had been successful.

Having subsequently been taken back under the wing of the Elland Road Championship club, Leeds handed the former reserve team manager Grainger the job of making her mark in the Premier League with a side made up of players who have little experience of senior team football.

With her side languishing in the bottom two, however, the chairman, Steve Russell, decided a change of manager was required and today he got what he will see as an immediate justification of his action as Leeds, in Passmoor's first game back in charge, beat Reading 3-0 to climb out of the relegation zone.

Russell declined to comment tonight but Gary Taylor, the general manager, said: "Gemma's departure was by mutual consent but obviously results on the pitch were the reasons behind it."

Passmoor said: "Gemma had done a great job with the reserves for six years and taking on the first team with a largely inexperienced group of players at this level was a difficult task. I've simply said to the chairman that I'll come in and hold the fort until the end of the season with the aim of keeping the team in the Premier League. The girls just need to get one or two wins under their belt to raise confidence, so today's result will give everyone a tremendous boost."

While Passmoor's team were in league action there was a surprise in the quarter-finals of the League Cup, which Leeds won last season. The Southern Division side Portsmouth beat the Premier League leaders Sunderland 2-1 after extra time and will be joined in the semi-finals by Nottingham Forest, who won 2-0 at Millwall Lionesses, Leicester City after a 2-1 win against West Ham and Barnet – who had qualified last month with a 5-0 victory over Cardiff City.